PAX East DVD in Question???

MJPM

During the 2nd Q & A panel, Tycho was answering a question pertaining to getting video of the Saturday Night performances (specifically VGO), and in the course of his response insinuated that PAX East would be presented in the form of (an) extended PA TV episode(s), and that there would not necessarily be a DVD. After the response he received from us after delivering that news, he retracted his statement, pending a regroup with those involved.

This is a plea to all of us here to let PA know that we very, very much want a PAX East DVD. There is demand for it, and after seeing 2 Player's production of PAX '09, if the same effort is put in to this DVD, it would be one of the best, bar none.

Please let the PAX East DVD live!


Also, thank you to all of those involved in the Community DVD project. You may be needed more than ever now due to this revelation. Let's all do our very best to ensure the moments and memories of PAX East live on!

capnjack

I wants it, precious.

Maybe they should just set up a pre-order page to determine if there's enough demand.

ElectricTurtle

I always buy PAX DVDs... I don't know why they would think PAX East is somehow not good/important enough to warrant one.

baelion

I missed that panel and this revelation completely sucks. I missed almost all the main Penny Arcade stuff because I assumed I'd get a chance to at least watch it on DVD.

Wraith260

capnjack wrote: »

I wants it, precious.

Maybe they should just set up a pre-order page to determine if there's enough demand.

at this point its not really about the demand, its more down to whether or not they've recorded enough of the con to make a dvd set. the response at the Q&A proved that there is a high demand for it and that most, if not all, were disappointed by the news that there wouldn't be one. so now its just a matter of waiting to see how much footage they have, what its off and whether or not they'll be able to throw something together.

perhaps the Community DVD Project could help them out with anything they're missing so that those who couldn't some and those why just want another momento don't miss out.

as with a few other things it seems that they really underestimated just how popular PAX East would be and i'm sure they're more disappointed than we are that they haven't been able to meet the huge demand not just for the show but for all the things that we hoped wout come with it.

still, despite everything they did a tremendous job pulling it off and keeping everything together. which means that next year should be bigger and better.

ElectricTurtle

baelion wrote: »

I missed that panel and this revelation completely sucks. I missed almost all the main Penny Arcade stuff because I assumed I'd get a chance to at least watch it on DVD.

This is exactly what I was thinking this year. I usually don't feel too bad about missing the 'big' panels because I know I can catch them on the DVD. If I knew I was SOL I would have made a more concerted effort to stand in line.

Wingedillidan

The Unofficial PAX-EAST 2010 Community DVD Project hopefully succeeded enough to provide some con goodness.

Coldbrew

I'm thankful that some of you guys are bringing up our Community DVD. We did get a lot of good footage, and I really believe that you guys will be impressed with it. We are kind of an indie group, so we're not professionals, but we got some good stuff, and you will all be able to see every bit of it without paying a dime. We'll try to put some previews up when we can, and when I get home (at Chicago airport as of this typing) I will update our thread with all the panels and such that we covered.

As for the official DVD, I do still hope that PA/2PP puts one out. I know Mike said a few months ago when they released the PAX09 DVD that it may be the last one, and that's why we stepped up our game, but we wouldn't want to take their place.

So in the possible (or likely) absence of an official DVD, our set should at least be satisfying enough.

LinkWizard

Right before the final ceremony at PAX East, I talked to Paul Levering about a PAX East DVD and he said that they weren't going to do it. Essentially, the PAX 2009 DVD set hasn't been selling that well, so there's no incentive for them to make a PAX East DVD. He said they were going to make an extended PATV episode featuring PAX East. Jerry and Mike had essentially said the same thing at the Q&A. I was expecting "extended" to mean ~20-30 minutes (or even 60 minutes) worth of video... but I just finished watching it, and it's only a little over 8 minutes! Most of the other PATV episodes are longer, so how can this even be called an extended version? *shrug* Maybe there's a part 2? I'm doubting it.

Anyway, I think they should put out a DVD of all the great stuff that they got on film. I don't care if it's not as content-packed as the 2009 box set. I think a lot of people would buy a DVD from each PAX that they go to... I know the cameras were there for the major panels, the behind-the-scenes stuff, and that's all that matters to most. Take care.

Coldbrew

I think at least part of the reason the '09 DVD isn't selling well is because of the $40 price tag. It kept me from buying it anyway, and I still yearned for something better than the '07 and '08 DVD's, which I have.

It is depressing that they won't release any of it aside from a short PATV episode. Hopefully they will eventually do something about it.

Gene Parmesan

Even though the PATV episode was great, yeah it was a bit short. I missed Wheaton, Frontalot and the first Q@A figuring I would just be able to watch it later. Kind of a bummer that we dont get more than 8 minutes out of it, even if that 8 minutes is really good.

LinkWizard

I'm sure, at the very least, there will be extra content in the PATV Series DVD set.

I hope.

Take care.

LTAcosta

Ever think that maybe the reason the PATV episode ended up being short is that maybe they wanted to save some footage for a possible DVD? I mean, it's a stretch, but we can hope, right?

makyris

Those that didn't buy the '09 DVD just because of the price totally missed out. (Plus if you bought a T-shirt you got $10 off, and who *didn't* buy a t-shirt at PAX?) My fiance and I bought it on a whim Sunday as we were leaving because we realized we were going to be sad to go back to regular life. Watching PAX '09 over the course of the following week was a wonderful way to get the PAX fix while transitioning back to the world of work, dirty dishes, and cleaning the kitty litter.

Also, you guys may not realize, but that DVD set contains six DVDs, *six*! There are tons of stuff there, hours. The Wil Wheaton hour alone was totally worth it. I'm not meaning to sound like I'm hawking it, but considering that most compilations like that are only a couple DVDs this was a total wealth of stuff, the full concerts and everything. So personally I say no complaining about the price. They gave us a lot of stuff for it.

Heh, it's also an excellent way to introduce friends to the experience. We were raving about Paul and Storm and Jonathan Coulton to our friends and they just went, "Meh". They didn't know what they were missing and so just shrugged. We're going to force them to sit and watch the '09 concerts later today and after they've totally enjoyed it we'll say, "See???"

If you're able to purchase it guys, do. Watching it felt like being at a PAX, even if it wasn't PAX East (and East was my first too). I'm sure I'm not the only one feeling sad to be back in the regular world where people aren't as nice as cool as at PAX. My fiance and I were alternately laughing our asses off and going "awwww" while watching it, and we've only watched one disc so far.

Thanks for making the DVD set guys, seriously. At the end of the Wil Wheaton hour a girl stood up and spoke about how lonely she'd been most of her life, having to hide her geekiness most of the time, but at PAX she didn't have to.... Even Wil got teary eyed, and so did I. I'm so glad not to feel alone.

MJPM

I'm saddened that part of the decision was based on sales of the PAX 09 DVD, which I ordered almost Day 1. Hopefully the sales during PAX East and continued online sales will change their mind... Seriously, when the news was dropped at the Q&A, there was an outcry that, should they decide to release one, very well better translate to better sales!! I am for both the official and unofficial DVDs, but both need our support as PAX goers. This year I'm even going to purchase a good camcorder so that I can capture all of these moments better (I only took pictures for PAX East assuming that there would be a DVD for my video fix) for the unofficial DVD crew.

I'm actually surprised at some of the panels and events not up on Youtube yet from PAX East.

Coldbrew

I know my reasoning is separate from most people, but I personally cannot justify the price, at least with my current income. I also run a team that films a bunch of stuff at PAX so I can just watch our footage, and though it's definitely nice to watch the professional stuff, I don't really need it.

The other issue I had was that the Jonathan Coulton set on the official '09 DVD is not complete. There's like 3 or 4 songs missing if I remember correctly. I understand their reasoning for that, but it's still a deal breaker for me, as some of those were the most memorable parts of that night.

Regardless of what they do and what my team does, I will always support the official DVD, and I honestly don't want them to stop either. And I will purchase the '09 DVD, someday...

MJPM wrote: »

This year I'm even going to purchase a good camcorder so that I can capture all of these moments better for the unofficial DVD crew.

I'm actually surprised at some of the panels and events not up on Youtube yet from PAX East.

I am very thrilled to hear that.

And I'm a bit surprised about the lack of content online as well. I'll be uploading some of our footage soon, and I'm going to look into uploading full panels, but we'll see how it goes.

MJPM

Coldbrew wrote: »

The other issue I had was that the Jonathan Coulton set on the official '09 DVD is not complete. There's like 3 or 4 songs missing if I remember correctly. I understand their reasoning for that, but it's still a deal breaker for me, as some of those were the most memorable parts of that night.

I wholeheartedly understand. Some of the Q&A stuff was cut, including the presentation of the Triwizard Pub Crawl House cup to Gabe and Tycho, which included my buddy with the Raven Claw flag (so many shenanigans Thursday night with Raven Claw...) that pissed me off. I also agree with you about the JoCo cuts as well.

I just checked my Flip Mino and apparently I also neglected to upload some videos I caught, including "It's Pitch Dark" and "Tongue-Clucking Grammarian" from the MC Frontalot set, so I am equally guilty. Youtube HO!

Just pulled out my '09 DVD and I now am seriously "homesick" for PAX.

papaprinny

I also wholeheartedly support the Official DVD. I likes. Plus they are good models for our performance as well. It's not fun being the only gig in town. We need someone to take quality cues from.

Oh yeah, it's worth mentioning that there was a distinct lack of a presence by the 2 Player Productions guys on the stage this year. There were a few, especially off the stage, but not near as many as PAX 09. I'd say odds of an East DVD are pretty low by that indication alone. They just didn't plan for it by the looks of things. This does not rule out DVD sets in the future, but demand will have to be pretty evident/solid in order for them to move forward with another, I'm sure.

mspencer

I hope the PA crew doesn't read too much into the poor DVD sales. I mean, to me it feels like they had an expectation and were watching to see if we'd meet it, but didn't tell us what they were looking for. Usually the PA guys are really good at clear communication with their fan base.

Now identifying a problem and proposing solutions are very different skills, and I don't know if this idea is even what's called for, but: why not make a main page post explaining the 2 Player Productions relationship and what everyone expects from this, and let people know that they are voting with their wallets?

It felt to me that PA explicitly spent more money on a professional video production crew for 09 because they wanted the DVDs to be higher quality and a better representation of the convention, and that's all. It never occured to me that this could be a market experiment, that a "do this again next year? Y/N" decision rested upon sales figures. I thought the whole 2 Player thing was designed to lose money but gain community 's, as it were.

Hicks

2009 was not the first year that a professional production company was brought on for the DVD.

mspencer

I kinda made it sound like I thought all DVDs before 2009 were burned on Mike and Jerry's personal DVD burners, didn't I?

Sorry if I was confusing. Please don't punch me in the face next PAX, Enforcer Hicks. Your work on the pre-2009 DVDs was great, really!

dyaballikl

I really want the 09 dvd, as I have all the others, but $40 is harsh. Certainly costs were high, but unit costs are nowhere near that. Drop the price to $30 and you'll get a lot of sales, then your total costs will be much closer to covered, if not completely covered.

Hicks

I worked on the 09 DVD as well, however due to post-production complications the footage didn't make it onto the final workflow.

Moe Fwacky

Hicks, I know you spent time editing the 08 CCST footage we gave you. Whatever happened to that edited footage since it didn't make the DVD? Can that be released in some way? Perhaps just online on blip.tv or something? I'd really like to see what work you guys did on that stuff.

kropotkin

It is a shame that there is no DVD for PAX East. I really enjoyed my time there and the concerts deserved to be shared with those that couldn't attend. The creation of the 'Coultron' deserves to be pressed onto DVD alone!

As for the PAX '09 DVD box set, I actually had a major problem with them as the first DVD has an error on it. The reproduction process left a blank track on the DVD making it unreadable, it occurs just at the end of the keynote given by Ron Gilbert. I emailed PA store and they sent me a new one, sadly with the same error. I explained the problem to them and they said they'd look into the problem. I haven't heard anything since and it's been over a 6 weeks now. Not a happy bunny, especially considering I had to pay $18 TAX duty on the thing on top of $40 for the DVD itself!

Hicks

I'm unsure of the location of the masters - I thought you had them. If not I will try and track them down and redigitize. I had a workflow for a segment on CCST, but I haven't touched 08 stuff in awhile. I'm pretty certain any community submitted stuff is fair game for its creators to mess with though.

Moe Fwacky

I believe Porkfry said the masters were sitting on a shelf at his house somewhere.